Once more we thank El Enmascarado for the rips and label shots from this deejay special issue of a fine 78 rpm disc by Red Saunders, featuring some great blues shouting by Joe Williams. Band leader and drummer Red Saunders was a prominent performer and recording artist on the Chicago jazz and R&B scene from the late 1930s until the late 1960s. He backed T-Bone Walker on his early recordings for Rhumboogie and Mercury and also played on some of Big Joe Turner's sessions for National. As named artist, Red recorded for Savoy in 1945, Sultan in 1946, Score in 1947 and Supreme in 1948.

In June 1950, Red started recording for Columbia, this disc being the only one he released on that label, the rest of his Columbia recordings being released on their Okeh subsidiary with whom he stayed until 1953. His only hit came in 1952 - "Hambone" released on Okeh 6862, credited to Red Saunders and his Orchestra with Dolores Hawkins and the Hambone Kids. Joe Williams performed live with the Red Saunders band in Chicago, particularly at the Club DeLisa which was the home base for Red for many years. He also featured on many of Red's recordings for Columbia and Okeh. In 1954 he joined the Count Basie band with whom he achieved stardom.

The above is the briefest of outlines of part of Red Saunders' career. There is much, much more to be found at the incredible Red Saunders Research Foundation website which explores the Chicago R&B scene in tremendous depth. The article on Red Saunders can be found here.

At the Club Delisa, 1942.

Photograph: Jack Delano. One of a series of 10 now at the Library of Congress website:

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Dance On

Dedicated to REAL R&B, Rock'n'Roll, Blues and Jazz

This is a site dedicated to rockin' 1940s and 1950s music, ripped from vinyl. Some cuts are a bit on the rough side. If you're looking for audio perfection you're on the wrong site baby!If you like what you hear on this site please buy this kind of music. There are many reasonably priced reissues available from web dealers or perhaps from your local record shop, if it still exists. These reissues will be in far better sound quality than the vinyl rips on this site and they will usually have more up to date liner notes and info, so go out and splash a little cash now and again. Help keep those reissue labels going in these difficult times.

No in-print CDs will be posted here. In fact no CDs will be posted here. I will occasionally list recommended purchases to help you hear more from artists featured on the blog.

Come Back Little Sheba

"The night is the corridor of history, not the history of famous people or great events, but that of the marginal, the ignored, the supressed, the unacknowledged; the history of vice, of error, of confusion, of fear, of want; the history of intoxication, of vainglory, of delusion, of dissipation, of delirium." Luc Sante - Low Life